


the view is gold

by EmeraldTulip



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: And they cute, Established Relationship, M/M, Near Future, P E T N A M E S H O N E Y, Pet Names, Post-Canon, Pride 2020, Pride Parades, Young Love, some gays some lesbians and a crew of bis at pride, they've been dating for about six months
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-22 14:16:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22117246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldTulip/pseuds/EmeraldTulip
Summary: Carlos and Seb go to Pride.(ft. the Salazar-Roberts family and a crew of theater bisexuals)
Relationships: Carlos/Seb Matthew-Smith, Dana Salazar-Roberts/Carol Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 10
Kudos: 108





	the view is gold

**Author's Note:**

> the hsmtmts discord server is giving me far too many ideas, I can't keep up. im also ignoring my other fandoms and I feel bad but oh seblos were really in it now  
> anyway! this is set in June 2020, and Seb and Carlos have been dating for about a few months, and they go to SLC Pride. I know it's January but I am very nostalgic for Pride. title from born to be brave, from hsmtmts obviously.  
> quick disclaimer, I am not from Utah, I don't know what Pride is like in SLC, I extrapolated from my own experiences. okay disclaimer done.  
> enjoy, everyone!

The doorbell rings, and Carlos startles.

Then he shoves aside his still-untouched summer geography homework and jumps up from his chair so quickly he almost knocks it over, steadying himself just in time and bolting from his bedroom.

“I got it, Mom!” he yells as he runs down the stairs, praying she doesn’t answer the door first.

“No running in the house, mijo!” is all she calls back, and Carlos jumps the last few steps. So what if his mom is worried he’ll slip and fall in his socks?

He opens the door for Seb, a beaming smile on his face that mirrors his own. “Hi,” he says breathlessly, and he blames the running.

“Hi,” Seb replies, tilting his head inquisitively. His unstyled hair flops onto his forehead with the move, and Carlos’s fingers twitch at his side with the need to push it back. “Why’d you run? I don’t mind waiting for a minute. Not that I mind the enthusiasm…”

“Right,” Carlos says, resisting the urge to rub the back of his neck. Nervous habit. “No, I just… didn’t want you alone with my mom.” He laughs a little.

Seb grins amusedly. “I like your mom,” he shrugs. “Plus, she tells me funny stories about you.”

Carlos groans. “Exactly.” He moves to the side, realizing awkwardly that he and Seb have just been standing in the doorway for at least a minute.

Seb doesn’t seem to mind, stepping inside and toeing off his shoes like it’s routine. Which, at this point, it kind of is—both their parents know that, if Seb isn’t at home or in rehearsal, he’s probably in the Rodriguez home. “I brought snacks,” he says, dropping his backpack next to his shoes and gesturing at it. “For later.”

“Right, cool,” Carlos fidgets. “You wanna come upstairs?”

Seb gives him a funny smile. “Yeah, let’s go!” He takes Carlos’s hand as they make their way up to his room, and it’s been six months, but Carlos doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to it.

He closes the door behind them, and when he turns around, Seb has a mischievous grin on his face. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Seb sighs, still grinning, crowding Carlos against the door. “Except for the fact that this is possibly going to be the best day _ever_.” He kisses him and Carlos wastes no time reciprocating, which he might not have done even just a few months ago. His glasses dig into his nose a little, his fingers curling into the soft collar of Seb’s jacket, and _yeah_ , this is pretty great.

“Better than the show?” Carlos points out after he draws back, a little out of breath. Again. Even with his dancer’s stamina, Seb has a way of reverting him into a flustered state.

Seb makes a face like _fair point_. “But this is _Pride_ , babe,” he emphasizes, tapping the nape of Carlos’s neck where his hand has settled. “This is a whole day where we can have fun and _not_ have to play a part!”

Carlos tuts, fake disappointed, scrunching his nose to fix the position of his glasses. “From an actor such as yourself? For shame, Seb.”

Seb rolls his eyes, still looking fond, and leans up to kiss him again. Seb is surprisingly needy, his fingers curling into Carlos’s hip and the dark hair on the back of his neck until Carlos readjusts so that Seb doesn’t have to tilt his head up so much. And Carlos lets himself have this moment, just a minute, because just a year ago he’d been sitting alone in his room, scrolling through the news, wondering if he’d ever get… well, get to where he is now. He has friends, and a boyfriend who is with him this moment, and a mom who was surprisingly chill when Carlos nervously asked if he could go to SLC Pride. Never in a thousand years did he expect this.

“Seb,” he mumbles against his cheek, turning his head away from the kiss so he can talk. He tugs on Seb’s collar. “Please tell me you aren’t wearing that to Pride. Because you know I love your whole farm boy flannel vibe, but you _will_ die of heat stroke. It is _June_.”

Seb pulls back. “I _know_ it’s June, hence why it’s _Pride_. And no, as a matter of fact…” He shrugs off his jacket and pulls off his checkered overshirt, revealing a rainbow-striped shirt underneath. “I want to be a _little_ more festive than ‘farm’ anyway.”

“No makeup or anything?” Carlos doesn’t _expect_ Seb to do anything, but he’d kind of assumed he’d go a little more out for the parade.

Seb half shrugs as he folds his clothes into a messy stack and drops them on Carlos’s desk chair. “Didn’t have time this morning, I didn’t know if traffic would be bad because of the road blocks so I left early, but I snagged some face paint so we can draw the rainbows on our faces like Nini’s moms did once!” He frowns. “We should probably do it outside, though, I don’t want to get paint on your stuff. It’s in my bag downstairs anyway.”

“Fine with me.” Carlos turns to his desk and rummages through the drawer until his fist closes around smooth material and he pulls out a flag. “This thing is _huge_ , just wait until we unfold it,” he laughs.

Seb checks his watch, plopping down on Carlos’s bed. “When is it supposed to start?”

“Around noon, I think,” Carlos says, turning to his calendar tacked on the wall. “That’s what I wrote, anyway.”

“Well, that gives us some time to kill, then,” Seb smiles, a clever look in his eyes that Carlos has learned not to trust. For all his sweet, Seb has some mischief in him. _Romantic_ mischief especially.

He walks over to where Seb is sitting, enjoying the expanded height difference between them when he’s still standing. Their knees knock together. “You are _bold_ today, Seb Matthew-Smith.”

“I am a gentleman,” Seb protests. “Besides. It’s _Pride._ ” He states it like that clears it all up, and then he’s tugging Carlos down to kiss him.

Carlos won’t complain. It is Pride.

* * *

He feels stupid saying it, but he’s pretty sure his boyfriend is the cutest person in the whole world.

As they walk down the street toward the festivities, hand in hand, Carlos can’t stop looking at him. Seb’s face is streaked rainbow, courtesy of Carlos, who knows that he more or less matches. And his smile is infectious, so much so that Carlos has to stop for a minute—which, of course, means Seb stops in his tracks, too.

“Whaaaat,” Seb draws it out, tugging on his hand.

Carlos knows it’s a daring move—they do live in Utah, after all—but it’s Pride so maybe he’s _feeling_ a little more daring. He leans down to press a kiss to the side of Seb’s mouth, not caring about their paint that smears when he moves.

Seb blinks up at him for a moment, seemingly baffled, before he cracks a smile. “You look ridiculous,” he says, reaching up and rubbing the side of Carlos’s nose, which evidently has paint on it now. Seb either succeeds or gives up after a few moments, because he links their fingers together and starts walking again at a more rapid pace.

Carlos lets himself be pulled.

* * *

“Is that Nini?” Seb half-yells into his ear. It’s very loud.

 _Where?_ Carlos mimes, squinting into the sun, and Seb grabs his hand and points his finger for him. Sure enough, there’s Nini with her moms, a rainbow ribbon in her hair. “We should say hi!” he shouts, and Seb nods, already searching for the best path through the crowd of people they’ve stumbled into.

“Hey!” Nini waves enthusiastically as soon as she spots them. “How are you guys doing in all of this?”

“It’s a little loud,” Carlos admits. “The TV doesn’t quite communicate how much noise hundreds of people make. But it is fun.”

One of Nini’s moms—Carlos can’t remember their names for his _life_ —smiles reassuringly. “You get used to it after a while,” she says, patting her wife’s shoulder. “Just… enjoy the day while it lasts.”

Nini wraps them both up in a bear hug, unfurling Carlos’s flag and blanketing them with it, reaching to scrub Carlos’s nose with her sleeve. “You got some rainbow there,” she grins.

* * *

Carlos gets a text from Ashlyn, and when he looks up, she and Red and Ricky are on the other side of the street, across the barrier. He nudges Seb and waves at their little crew of blue, purple, and pink, and they wave back, screaming words they probably know he can’t hear.

He gets another text a minute later, also from Ashlyn. He tosses his flag over his shoulder and unlocks his phone. All it says is _go get your boy!_

And, well, he’s a little confused. Because he already _has_ his boy, thanks very much Ashlyn. But then he stows his phone away and turns his attention to Seb, only to realize that Seb is already staring at him.

 _Oh,_ he thinks, because he gets caught off-guard by the different shades of blue in Seb’s eyes and the red in his cheeks, no matter how many times he looks.

Carlos doesn’t ask _what_ this time, because he would have to be an idiot (okay, _more_ of an idiot) to not recognize the dopey adoration in Seb’s eyes—he’s felt it himself too many times. It took him a long while to convince himself that Seb wasn’t making a mistake, but now, it’s undeniable.

He lifts a hand and tucks it against Seb’s cheek, careful to avoid smearing the paint too much, tilting Seb’s face up so they’re looking right at each other. “Thanks for coming with me today, love,” he tells him.

Seb gives him a smile that says, _duh_. “Thanks for coming with _me_. I…” He swallows. “I never knew I could feel like this. Like,” he hurries to explain, “how the Sharpay costume makes me feel, or theater. Like that, but with a _person_. And it’s—it’s so so great to just… be here. With you.”

Carlos can’t _possibly_ follow that up with more emotional words. And since it’s Pride, and he _can_ , even though they’re right out in the open, he kisses Seb like his life depends on it.

Honestly, sometimes it feels like it does.

The sound of the parade rages around them, people shuffling by, but as Carlos tilts his head and Seb throws his arms around his neck, they couldn’t care less.

* * *

(Ashlyn has a picture of them from across the street that she sends him the next day. They’re almost lost in the crowd of people, but Carlos has no problem finding himself when he zooms in. He’s always liked how different he and Seb are, other than the theater stuff of course. He likes that Seb’s hair is blond, and that his eyes are blue, and that he’s shorter than Carlos is, and that he’s so pale despite all his outdoor farm work.

But in this picture, he really likes how the smeared rainbows on their faces seem to blend more the harder he stares at their kiss. One piece of art; just like they should be.

 _Thanks Ash,_ he shoots off a quick text before flipping over to Seb’s contact.

He sends him the same picture, as well as another one of his desk chair.

 _You left your jacket here,_ he types. _Do you want to come over to get it?_

Because maybe he’s feeling a little bold, too.)

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are, as always, appreciated.  
> find me on tumblr, my main is [@perseusjaxon](https://perseusjaxon.tumblr.com) and my hsmtmts blog is [@rinaseblos](https://rinaseblos.tumblr.com)!


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